If you're a real estate business, I'm guessing you’re already using email to communicate with your clients.
But there are ways to optimize how you use the channel and systems you can create that will significantly improve your client engagement.
In this guide, I’ll show you the why and how of real estate email marketing. You’ll learn key ways to use email in your business, best practices for your client-facing emails, and I’ll show you email templates that you can put to work today.
Let’s dive in.
Why Use Email in Your Real Estate Business?
There’s something to be said about calling your leads. You can get on the phone to someone immediately and have a one-to-one conversation.
But, it's time-consuming: for both you and your clients.
Email gives you the ability to communicate with buyers and sellers at scale, without compromising on personalization.
With the right tools and email templates in place, email can quickly become a key part of your sales process, helping your clients buy and sell their homes quickly, feeling supported by you along the way.
Best Practices For Your Real Estate Emails
1. Keep Your Emails Simple for Clarity
No matter where you operate, the property buying and selling process can be complex, particularly if your prospective clients haven’t gone through the process before.
Keeping your emails brief ensures they're straightforward and easy to understand.
Studies have found the optimum length of an email to help with readability and reply rate is 50-125 words. In practice, that may be slightly too short to include all of the relevant information you need to send clients, but, always look for ways to simplify your emails.
If not, you’ll be confusing your clients and making it harder for them to understand and reply.
Avoid unnecessary legalese where you can, and make everything easy to understand.
2. Always Ask a Question to Keep the Process Moving
To keep your clients engaged and involved with the process, always end your emails with a clear call-to-action or question.
While you will still need to follow up with clients who don’t reply, this will ensure they always feel like you're guiding them through the process and making the process simple for them.
Even if you don't necessarily need the client to reply in much detail, asking them to confirm with a simple "yes" ensures they've seen your emails and you're safe to move forward with your own actions.
Call to actions and questions you can use include:
Does this timeline work for you?
Do you have time to touch base over a 15-minute phone call on [date]?
Do you have any questions about that or should I proceed?
Naturally, the questions you ask will depend on your clients' stage in the buying or selling process.
3. Add Personalization to Build Relationships
Even if you’re working with multiple clients at once, it’s important to make every single one feel like you value their business. 78% of marketers say personalization has a “strong” or “extremely strong” impact on their customer experience.
Each email you send to clients should include personal touches, such as:
Using your clients’ first name
Adding a custom opening line that’s personalized to the recipient
Considering the house buying and selling process is often difficult, ensuring your clients feel like you're there to support them is key to engaging and retaining them.
If you’re using QuickMail to manage your email campaigns, you can add unique attributes to your client records, such as their name, address, company, and any other details you need.
When you send emails out, as long as you include the relevant attribute, such as {{prospect.first_name}}, it will be automatically added to your email, making it personalized and unique to every recipient.
You can select from a variety of predefined attributes, or, you can create your own.
Using attributes to personalize emails is a simple way to ensure every email you send is relevant, personalized, and makes the recipient feel like the email couldn't have been sent to anyone else.
4. Use Plain Text Over HTML
While it’s tempting to use email software like Mailchimp designed to help you send colorful HTML templates, it’s not ideal to use those for client interactions.
Keep your emails to plain text to ensure they’re clear and legible. If you need an email automation tool that lets you send plain text emails to multiple recipients at once, you can use QuickMail. QuickMail enables you to schedule and send emails to your clients on autopilot, without compromising on personalization.
Real Estate Email Templates to Nurture Sellers
These templates will help you generate seller leads and engage them throughout the process. They’ll build trust and help you ensure they trust you to help them in the complicated process of selling a property.
1. First Contact with New Lead
When engaging with new leads selling their homes, the first few steps are critical. It’s your chance to make a strong first impression and prove why they should trust you with their home selling process.
Here’s a template to help you successfully engage with a lead who has shown interest in selling, contacting you via email or a contact form on your site.
Subject: Selling your home on [street name]
Hi {{prospect.first_name}},
Thanks for reaching out about selling your home. I’m excited to see if [company] is a good fit for your selling needs. Our mission is to make the home selling process as stress-free as possible and ensure you sell your home within your desired timeframe.
Do you have time for a 20-minute call on {{=day+2}} to discuss where you’re currently at, and next steps? If so, let me know a time that works and I’ll give you a call then.
Look forward to talking,
{{inbox.name}}
2. Scheduling a Home Valuation
If you have an inbound system for collecting leads, such as offering a free home valuation, this template is for you. When someone reaches out to you asking for a valuation, you need to move quickly.
They may be reaching out to several other agents or brokers, so you need to prove that you’re able to move quickly and be the perfect partner to them.
Subject: Scheduling your home valuation
Hi {{prospect.first_name}},
Thank you for inquiring about our valuation reports for your home on [street name]. This is something we’d be happy to help with.
As you completed the contact form with all of the information we need, we’ll get started on this as soon as possible. We’ll send back your free valuation report within 5 working days.
When creating the valuation report, we’ll consider the information you provided, as well as data on recent house sales on [street name].
Is there anything else I can help you with in the meantime?
Best,
{{inbox.name}}
3. Expired Listing Outreach
There are always sellers looking for help. A simple way to identify them is to look for soon-to-expire or recently expired listings on popular real estate listing databases like Zillow or Trulia.
Then, reach out to the seller, offering your help. If you can’t find the seller’s contact details, you can even print a letter and send it to their address.
Subject: Helping with the sale of [address]
Hi {{prospect.first_name}},
I noticed that your listing for [address] on Zillow expired last week. I’m sorry to see you haven’t been able to sell yet - it’s often a difficult process.
As you’re based in [city/town/postcode], I wanted to offer my help. I’ve worked with homeowners here for [number of years], helping people sell their houses in faster-than-average times, without needing to compromise on the final sale price.
I can also help diagnose any issues that could hurt your chances of a sale.
Would you be interested in a quick chat to see if I can help?
Best,
{{inbox.name}}
4. Post-Sale Review Request
The most successful real estate businesses are built on trust. In fact, 41% of sellers who used a real estate agency found them via a friend or family referral.
It’s important to ask your happy clients to leave you a review that you can showcase on your website, Google My Business, Trustpilot, and other popular review sites.
Over time, your reviews and testimonials will be your most effective marketing tool.
Here’s a template you can use to gather testimonials from sellers who you’ve helped.
Subject: How was your experience selling [house address] with us?
Hi {{prospect.first_name}},
I hope you and your family are keeping well since we last spoke. It was a pleasure helping you sell your home.
When you reached out to us, you let me know that you found us via [friend name] who worked with us last year.
I wanted to ask you a favor: would you be able to leave us a review on [platform name]? It will take 5 minutes or less and the whole team here would appreciate it.
Here’s the link: [URL for review site]
Thank you,
{{inbox.name}}
Real Estate Email Templates to Engage with Buyers
These templates are designed for real estate agents looking to keep home buyers engaged in the process. You’ll make sure they stay interested in their search and will always look to you as the first point of contact when they have questions about available properties and taking the next steps towards a purchase.
1. Open House Follow-Up
If you’re holding an open house, you need to be following up with visitors. Some of them may be considering the house you’re trying to sell at the same time as several other options.
By following up promptly after the viewing, you’ll have the chance to move the process forward with them and help show them why this house is perfect for their needs.
At your open house, you should be collecting visitors’ personal details, such as their name and email address. You can then use those to personalize your email templates.
Subject: Your thoughts on [address]?
Hi {{prospect.first_name}},
Thank you for attending the open house at [address] on [date]. I hope your first impressions of the property were good.
I also think it’s worth mentioning that I’m helping several other homeowners sell similar properties that you might be interested in. They all have [key feature], just like the property at [address].
Would love to touch base and see if there’s a way I can be of assistance in your property search. Do you have 15-minutes for a phone call on {{=day=3}}?
Best,
{{inbox.name}}
2. Suggest Relevant Listings
Most buyers won’t pick the first property they see. Buyers typically view a median of nine properties during their search.
What does that mean for you as a real estate agent? It means you need to be proactively helping buyers with their search. Having an email template that you can use to suggest relevant properties they may be interested in.
Your clients will be grateful for your suggestions, and it’s a good way to solidify your position as a trusted expert in their market
Here’s the template:
Subject: Properties in [area] that fit your needs
Hi {{prospect.first_name}},
Hope you’re keeping well!
A few listings in [area] recently popped up and I think you’d be interested in seeing them. They all have [key feature] that you mentioned is a must-have.
Here are the listings:
[Link #1]
[Link #2]
[Link #3]
Based on the recent market, I’d expect these properties to have strong interest from other buyers.
Would you like me to schedule a viewing for any of these?
Best,
{{inbox.name}}
3. Post Viewing Follow-Up
After a viewing, buyers will have questions about the property. It's a simple way to ensure every email you send is relevant, personalized, and makes the recipient feel like the email couldn't have been sent to anyone else.
You can send this template to buyers after a viewing to gauge their interest and determine the next steps.
Here’s the template:
Subject: How was your viewing at [address]?
Hi {{prospect.first_name}},
It was great to show you around [address] today. I hope you liked the property.
Based on my experience working in [city/postcode] and helping people purchase similar properties, the current asking price is fair but there m.
What are your thoughts on the property so far?
Best,
{{inbox.name}}
P.S. if you have any questions on this property or others, I’d be happy to answer. You can reach me here or on [number]
4. Re-Engaging a Buyer
Not everyone is ready to buy immediately. Buyers are often happy to take their time, viewing multiple properties, and being patient until one that checks all of their boxes shows up.
However, there will be a moment when the potential buyer decides that they’re ready. When that moment comes, you need to be the first realtor that springs to mind.
Subject: Still looking for a property in [city/postcode]?
Hi {{prospect.first_name}},
I hope that you’re keeping well! As I haven’t heard from you in a few weeks I wanted to check in to see how your search is going.
It would be great to catch up on your progress and see if there’s anything I can help you with.
Do you have 20-minutes for a chat on {{=day+3}}?
Best,
{{inbox.name}}
The Importance of Following Up
No matter how good your email templates are, you won’t always get a reply. Buyers and sellers alike are going through an often stressful time in their lives, and even if your intentions are good, they may not want to reply immediately.
To maintain engagement, always send a friendly follow-up email a few days after hearing nothing back.
Over half of replies to emails come from a follow-up. If your competitors are forgetting to send those reminders and you are, you’ll win more business.
To follow up automatically with your prospects, you can use QuickMail.
After your first email in a campaign, add a “Wait” step with the number of days delay you’d like.
Then, add a new Email step and write out your follow-up.
Experiment with your call to action. Ask questions to find out more about your buyer or seller’s position and if they’re still interested in your services.
By following up you prove that you’re invested in helping your potential client succeed. They’ll have more confidence in your processes because they can already see you’re actively trying to help them.
Sending Your Real Estate Emails on Autopilot with QuickMail
If you’re ready to start more conversations with potential clients without increasing the time it takes to send and manage your inbox, QuickMail is for you.
You can import your client list automatically from a Google Sheet, or upload it manually. Then, you can segment your list into buyers, sellers, and any other type of segment you need to communicate with.
You’ll be able to schedule, send, and follow-up with clients in one place so you get more replies without needing to spend hours typing out emails one-by-one in your inbox every day.
Our deliverability software will ensure your emails always land in your clients’ primary inboxes and never get caught by spam filters.
You can try out QuickMail with a free trial to see if it can help you engage with more real estate leads on autopilot.
